After a while I was allowed to get up and take walks around Beulahland, a beautiful place and one of the few truly civilised places in any world. And then I was transferred back to Boondock... and Woodrow and Father and Dagmar came to call on me.

They all leaned over my bed and kissed me and I cried a while and then we talked.

It was a big wedding. There was Mycroft and Athene and Minerva of course, and my grandson Richard Colin, who had at last forgiven Lazarus (for being his father). My darling Gwen Hazel had no reason to remain on leave from the family when Richard Colin was willing and eager to join. My daughters Laz and Lor had decided to cancel the indentures of their husbands, Cas and Pol, in recognition of their heroism in diving back into the fire for us four laggards - and to allow them to marry into the family. And there was Xia and Dagmar and Choy-Mu and Father and Gretchen - and the rest of us who had been Longs for years - some more years, some less. Our new family members each had had one reason or another to hesitate, but Galahad and Tamara made it clear: we take just one vow, to safeguard the welfare and happiness of all our children.

That's our total marriage contract. The rest is just poetic ritual.

Whom you sleep with, whom you make love with, is your private business. Ishtar, as our family geneticist, controls pregnancy and progeny to whatever extent control is needed for the welfare of our children.

So we all joined hands in the presence of our children (of course Pixel was there!) and we pledged ourselves to love and cherish our children - those around us, those still to come, worlds without end.

And we all lived happily ever after.

APPENDIX

People in this Memoir

Maureen Johnson Smith Long, 4 July 1882.

Pixel, a cat

Maureen's Ancestors, Aunts, Uncles, In-Laws

Ira Johnson, MD, father 2 August 1852

Adele Pfeiffer Johnson, mother

John Adams Smith, father-in-law

Ethel Graves Smith, mother-in-law

(Paternal Ancestors)

Asa Edward Johnson, grandfather 1813-1918

Rose Altheda McFee Johnson, grandmother 1814-1918

George Edward Johnson, great-grandfather 1795-1899

Amanda Lou Fredericks Johnson, great-grandmother 1798-1899

Terence McFee, great-grandfather 1796-1900

Rose Wilhelmina Brandt McFee, great-grandmother 1798-1899

(Maternal Ancestors)

Richard Pfeiffer, grandfather 1830-1932

Kristina Larsen Pfeiffer, grandmother 1834-1940

Robert Pfeiffer, great-grandfather 1809-1909

Heidi Schmidt Pfeiffer, great-grandmother 1810-1913

Ole Larsen, great-grandfather 1805-1907

Anna Kristina Hansen, great-grandmother 1810-1912

Ira Johnson's Siblings

Samantha Jane Johnson 1831-1915

James Ewing Johnson 1833-1884

(married Carole Pelletier 1849-1954)

Walter Raleigh Johnson 1838-1862

Alice Irene Johnson 1840-?

Edward McFee Johnson 1844-1884

Aurora Johnson 1850-?

Maureen's Siblings

Edward Ray Johnson 1876

Audrey Adele Johnson 1878

(married Jerome Bixby 1896)

Agnes Johnson 1880

Thomas Jefferson Johnson 1881

Benjamin Franklin Johnson 1884

Elizabeth Ann Johnson 1892

Lucille Johnson 1894

George Washington Johnson 1897

Nelson Johnson, cousin 1884

(son of James Ewing Johnson and Carole Pelletier)

Maureen's Descendants and their Spouses

Nancy Smith 1 Dec 1899

(married Jonathan Sperling Weatheral)

Carol Smith 1 January 1902

(married Roderick Schmidt Jenkins)

Brian Smith Junior 2 March 1905

George Edward Smith 4 February 1907

Marie Agnes Smith 5 April 1909

Woodrow Wilson Smith/Lazarus Long, et al. 11 Nov 1912

(first wife: Heather Hedrick)

Richard Smith 1914-1945

(married Marian Hardy)

Ethel Smith 1916

Theodore Ira Smith 4 March 1919

Margaret Smith 1922

Arthur Roy Smith 1924

Alice Virginia Smith 1927

(married Ralph Sperling)

Doris Jean 1930

(married Roderick Briggs)

Patrick Henry Smith 1932

(by Justin Weatheral)

Susan Smith 1934

(married Henry Schultz)

Donald Smith 1936

Priscilla Smith 1938

Lapis Lazuli Long, cloned from Lazarus, AD 4273

Lorelei Lee Long, cloned from Lazarus AD 4273

Richard Colin Campbell Ames, grandson, AD 2133

(son of Lazarus Long and Wendy Campbell)

Roberta Weatheral Barstow, granddaughter 25 Dec 1918

Anne Barstow Hardy, great-granddaughter 2 Nov 1935

Nancy Jane Hardy, great-great-granddaughter 22 June 1952

Maureen's Spouses, Co-Spouses, Lovers, Friends

Charles Perkins 1881-1898

Brian Smith, husband 1877-1996

Justin Weatheral 1875

Eleanor Sperling Weatheral 1877

James Rumsey, Senior, MD

James Rumsey, Junior, MD

Velma Briggs Rumsey (Mrs James Rumsey, Junior)

Mammy Della

Elizabeth Louise Barstow Johnson (Mrs Nelson Johnson)

Hal and Jane Andrews

George Strong Arthur Simmons 1917

Jubal Harshaw 1907

Tamara Ishrar

Galahad

Hilda Mae Corners Burroughs Long

Deety Burroughs Carter Long

Jacob Burroughs Long

Zebadiah John Carter Long

Cats

Pixel

Random Numbers

Chargé d'Affaires

Captain Blood

Princess Polly Ponderosa Penelope Peachfuzz

More People

Judge Hardacres, a corpse

Eric Ridpath, MD

Zenobia Ridpath, a gracious hostess

Adolf Weisskopf, MD

Dagmar Dobbs, RN

Major Gretchen Henderson, Time Corps soldier

Jesse F. Bone DVM - saved a kitten

Ira Howard - funded the Howard Foundation 1825-73

Jackson Igo and sons

Judge Orville Sperling, Foundation Chairman 1840

Reverend Clarence Timberly

Mrs Ohlschlager, neighbour and friend

The Reverend Dr Ezekiel ‘Biblethumper'

Mr Fones, employer of Brian Smith

Mr Renwick, driver, Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Co.

The Reverend Dr David C. Draper

Mr Smaterine, a banker

Deacon Houlihan, a bank president

Mr Schontz, a butcher

Anita Boles, a stenographer

Arthur J. Chapman, Howard Foundation Trustee

Dr Bannister, Dean of Academics, KCU

Alvin Barkley, President USA 1945-53 rime line two

George S. Patton, Junior, President USA 1953-61 time line two

Rufus Briggs, Foundation trustee, an oaf

D. D. Harriman

Col. Frisby, Argus Security Patrol

Rick, Argus Security Patrol

Mrs Barnes, matron, Argus Security Patrol

Mr Wren, Public Health Officer

Mrs Lantry, Public-Health Officer

Daniel Dixon, financier

Dr Macintosh, Chancellor University of New Mexico

Helen Beck, dancer/scholar

Dora Smith (Mrs W. W. Smith) New Beginnings colony

Helen Smith, daughter of Mr and Mrs W. W. Smith, New Beginnings

Freddie, a gunsel

Patty Paiwonski, a priestess with snakes

Wyoming Long, daughter of Gwen Hazel and Lazarus

Castor and Pollux, grandsons of Gwen Hazel

The Reverend Dr Hendrik Hudson Schultz, Time corps agent

Gillian Boardman Long, RN, quondam high priestess Church of All Worlds

Computer People

Mycroft Holmes IV, chairman Lunar revolution, time line three

Minerva Long, former executive computer Tellus Secundus, now flesh and blood Athene, executive computer Tellus Tertius, Minerva's twin

Shiva - Athene/Mycroft interfaced, led by Minerva